Unsanitary pads and rim jobs

-- Cycling’s unspeakables under the magnifying glass

Lunn Ave rider and Doctor of Bicycle Engineering Mike P exposes winter cycling’s dark underbelly –

“Wednesday morning’s return in the wet had me hardly daring to use the brakes. The sound was awful, even though I had not long since cleaned the rims and pads. Cleaning up this time required a bit of rag for sure, grey grinding paste even spattering the tyre. The brake pads are now past the slots, but there were still lumps catching the screwdriver.

"With the loose crap gone and the light-magnifier on the job, the real problem came to light: the same shit we dig out of the tyres was embedded in the brake block rubber. Some tiny marks after some digging turned out to be substantial lumps of glass and stone.

"I’m not saying I got it all, but after removing 20 to 30 bits from both brake sets, the sound is much better, and I’m sure the stopping be will be too (it had quite deteriorated). The real cure is new brake pads, but that can only be temporary. It is going to rain again. So while we are thinking a bit more than usual about safety, and if you are riding in the wet particularly, best do brake pad maintenance.

"If you don’t, apart from not being able to avoid things as you might have expected, the big surprise can be splitting the side right out of the rim. That happened to a friend of mine on Ngauranga Gorge (Wellington) where 100kph is on. Coming down to land amongst three lanes of downhill traffic certainly ranks right up there with Richie’s blow-out on Clevedon downhill approach."